As Henry and Dorian drift farther and farther away from him, Basil grows more and more tragic – his truly artistic temperament leads him into worshipping beauty where he sees it (in Dorian), and it clouds his vision. Basil's true problem is that art is more real to him than life. In an artwork, beauty is always a good thing, but in the real world, it's just not. He doesn't just want life to be like art – he wants life to be art, and vice versa. He believes that Dorian must still have some shred of good in him, if he can continue to look like an angel – and maybe he's right. However, we don't ever get to find out, since Dorian decides rashly to kill Basil rather than pray for forgiveness. Unfortunately, Basil, the pure artist and worshiper of beauty, isn't cut out for this world of evil men, and he loses in the end.